Optimist Retirement Group LLC Has $1.76 Million Position in Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its position in Vector Group Ltd. (NYSE:VGR) by 15.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 166,487 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 22,751 shares during the quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Vector Group worth $1,760,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VGR. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its holdings in shares of Vector Group by 78.6% in the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 666,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,046,000 after purchasing an additional 293,338 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Vector Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,868,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $195,844,000 after buying an additional 283,371 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Vector Group by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 8,309,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $87,829,000 after buying an additional 198,893 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Vector Group by 1,098.6% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 190,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,018,000 after buying an additional 174,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Vector Group by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,216,060 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,993,000 after buying an additional 103,633 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VGR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Vector Group from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com started coverage on Vector Group in a research report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock.

Vector Group Price Performance

Shares of VGR stock opened at $14.91 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $13.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.70. Vector Group Ltd. has a one year low of $9.27 and a one year high of $15.53. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 1.04.

Vector Group (NYSE:VGR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $371.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.90 million. Vector Group had a net margin of 14.05% and a negative return on equity of 26.96%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Vector Group Ltd. will post 1.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Vector Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Vector Group’s payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

Vector Group Company Profile

Vector Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes in the United States. It operates in two segments, Tobacco and Real Estate. The company produces cigarettes under the Montego, EAGLE 20’s, Pyramid, Grand Prix, Liggett Select, Eve, and USA brand names, as well as various partner and private label brands.